’Skyrim’ wins top prize at Spike Video Game Awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” flew away with the game of the year trophy at the Spike Video Game Awards.

The dragon-slaying epic also won as best role-playing game, and “Skyrim” developer Bethesda Softworks was selected as the studio of the year at Saturday’s ninth annual Spike Video Game Awards, which honors outstanding achievements within the gaming industry over the past year.

“We poured ourselves into this for the past three years,” said “Skyrim” game director Todd Howard.

Valve’s sci-fi puzzler “Portal 2” bounced away with the most awards, winning five trophies for best PC game, multiplayer and downloadable content, as well as best performance by female human for Ellen McLain as GLaDOS and male human for Stephen Merchant as Wheatley.

Other titles winning multiple trophies included Rocksteady’s superhero sequel “Batman: Arkham City” for best character for the Joker and best action-adventure, adapted and Xbox 360 game; Supergiant Games’ role-playing fable “Bastion” as best downloadable game, song and original score; and the latest entry in Nintendo’s “Zelda” franchise, “The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword,” which was chosen as the best motion and Wii game.

The fantastical 25-year-old “Zelda” role-playing series itself became the first gaming franchise to be inducted into the show’s hall of fame. “Zelda” creator Shigeru Miyamoto from Japan was on hand to accept the honor.

“None of this would be possible without you,” Miyamoto told the crowd. “We all at Nintendo are humbled by your support.”

“Chuck” star and avid gamer Zachary Levi hosted the ninth annual ceremony at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, appearing on stage on stage alongside three-dimensional “augmented reality” versions of characters and weapons from game of the year nominees.

The two-hour extravaganza, which featured performances from The Black Keys and Deadmau5, put more emphasis on upcoming games than awards though.

The show featured never-before-seen footage from such titles as “Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance,” “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots” and “BioShock Infinite.” It also served as the launch pad for newly announced games like “The Last of Us,” “Fortnite” and “Alan Wake’s American Nightmare.”

Other winners included “Mortal Kombat” as best fighting game, “Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception” as best graphics, “World of Warcraft” developer Blizzard as gamer god and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” as best shooter.

“This is awesome, especially in a year like this when we have so many good games coming out, especially multiplayer games like ‘Gears of War,’ which is amazing,” said Robert Bowling, creative strategist at “Modern Warfare 3” co-developer Infinity Ward.

The winners of most of the show’s categories were chosen by an advisory council, while the best trailer and most anticipated game winners were selected by viewer votes. The stealthy historical title “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations” was awarded the best trailer trophy, and sci-fi saga “Mass Effect 3” won for most anticipated game.